30-7

Today's adventure really begun when we arrived at Vendeuvre-sub-Barse station. This was one of the times when things didn't seem to be going our way; there were no taxis at the station and, at the town hall, the lady, who kindly called around, couldn't get us to Essoyes, a mere 24.9 KM away. We walked back to the station seeing if we could flag a cab down, but to no avail. Had it not been for plenty of perseverance and a healthy dose of luck, we would have been deeply disappointed and would have had to return to Troyes with our tails between our legs. Luckily, I found a cab number and whoever answered it gave us the news we wanted - we had to wait 30 mins, and by the time, we'd finished waiting around aimlessly, we didn't want to see Vendeuvre-sur-Barse again. We made sure the cab driver would pick us up at an agreed time and, as a result, we din't have to worry about getting our train back later, even if we had to return to this confounded place once more.

Essoyes is a true delight and I should mention the fact that there are only 741 residents in this quaint commune. It'd been home to Renoir (1841-1919) from 1896-1907, the post impressionist painter and his family, including one of his sons, the great filmmaker Jean Renoir (1894-1979). Lunch was at a picturesque place by the river and a beautiful bridge. We'd already bought the tickets we needed to visit the Renoir attractions and a walking map, which proved to be indispensable. The house of the great painter is perfectly unpretentious and preserved pristinely, exactly as it'd been left with precious objects donated by Sophie, an actress, who is one of Pierre Auguste's grandchildren. At the bottom of the garden is his atelier with an excellent exposition. The maestro lived here for the last 25 years of his life and loved the village so much that he and family are buried here; the cemetery is one of the sights on the Renoir trail as are various places he'd painted with large mock ups on these buildings, which helps those following the route to put things into context. At the centre where tickets are bought they have a 15 minute video about his life, which was entirely in French, and is worth a look.